Getting started with curation on EpicBeat

This guide aims at getting you started with content curation in EpicBeat. At the end of the guide, you will be able to curate content from EpicBeat to your blog in 1 click.

Note: You will need to have Curation enabled on your account. Ask us about it if you don't see the Curate button as show in Step 1 below. Also, content curation only works with WordPress blogs at the moment.

Follow these tutorials if you need help with a step in the curation setup process. Alternatively, you can just go through the rest of this post to understand the process from start to finish and to enable curation to your WordPress blog:

Step 0: Make sure Curation is enabled on your account. You'll need to have a paid subscription with us to have it enabled.

To create a Curation API Key, you should have an Epictions account with curation enabled and be logged in to it. Follow these steps to generate the Curation API key:

1. Click on "Configure" on the top menu bar and select "Curation" from the dropdown.

2. Click on Add New Blog.

3. This allows you to add the blog address to your account. Enter the blog URL to the field, including "http:// or https://" and click Save.

4. The API Key is generated once your blog is added to the list. Click the copy icon to copy the API key to your clipboard.

Step 2: Installing and configuring the curation plugin

1. To start, get to the Curation setup page by clicking on "Configure" on the menu bar. Once you've selected "Curation" from the dropdown, click on "Download Plugin" to download it to your computer.

2. After download is completed, go to your blog and login as an administrator. Move your mouse over Plugins and click Install New.

3. On next screen, click "Upload Plugin" near top left corner of the screen.

4. On next screen, click Choose File... and select the plugin file you just downloaded. Then, click Install Now.

5. The plugin will start installing now. It may take 10-15 seconds depending on your server. Once done, you will see following screen:

Click Activate Plugin. The plugin is now installed and activated.

Configuring the plugin

6. A new menu item will appear in the sidebar Curation API.

7. Click Curation API to go to the settings screen. You need to paste the Curation API key you generated here and click Get Access Token.

8. Once you click Get Access Token, the initial configuration is complete. Next, we will configure how the curated posts appear on your blog.

Move your mouse over Curation API and click Settings. You will see a configuration screen here.

The first option controls whether the post will be saved as draft or published straightaway. Next option controls whether the content is published as a single post or different posts. When you curate multiple articles on EpicBeat, they can either be combined into one post to create a listicle or as separate posts.

9. Next area contains the template that the plugin uses to create the post. You can add or remove parts of the post as needed. If you need to change HTML classes, you can switch to Code view and edit the markup.

10. The last two settings control default category and author for curated content. All curated posts will be assigned the categories you select here.

11. Once you have configured the settings, click Save at the bottom of the page.

Step 3: Getting familiar with the curation interface

1. To start curating, you will need to login to your account and visit a curated stream or start a new search. Once you've identified the content pieces you'd like to curate on your blog, click the Bookmark icon below the article title to add it to curation queue.

2. Once you have added an article to the curation list, you can click the bookmark icon again to remove it. The count in top right will update to show the number of articles in your queue.

3. Once you have selected the content, click Publish and then click the appropriate blog address you would like to publish the content to.

Depending on your settings, the content will be saved as a draft or published straightaway. You can add up to 20 articles at a time to your curation list.